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Did you know? Panda's mark among Game 7 intrigue

By
Paul CasellaMLB.com

The Giants capped off a back-and-forth 2014 World Series with a 3-2 victory over the Royals in Game 7 on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

From Giants ace Madison Bumgarner continuing to make history (this time out of the bullpen) to Pablo Sandoval completing a record-setting postseason of his own, Game 7 of the 2014 Fall Classic provided plenty more material for the baseball annals.

The Giants capped off a back-and-forth 2014 World Series with a 3-2 victory over the Royals in Game 7 on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

From Giants ace Madison Bumgarner continuing to make history (this time out of the bullpen) to Pablo Sandoval completing a record-setting postseason of his own, Game 7 of the 2014 Fall Classic provided plenty more material for the baseball annals.

An in-depth look at Bumgarner's incredible game and postseason can be found here, but here's a look at some other interesting facts and figures to come out of the Giants' title-clinching victory.

• Although his outing was cut a bit short, Giants starter Tim Hudson became the oldest pitcher in history to start a World Series winner-take-all game, surpassing Roger Clemens. Though Hudson and Clemens were both 39 at the time of their respective starts, Hudson was 15 days older than Clemens was when he started Game 7 of the 2001 World Series for the Yankees.

• Sandoval went 3-for-3 in Game 7 to extend his hits total this postseason to 26, breaking the previous single-postseason record of 25 held by the Angels' Darin Erstad (2002), the Cardinals' David Freese (2011) and the Braves' Marquis Grissom (1995).

• Brandon Belt and Hunter Pence each picked up two more hits in Game 7, making them just the second pair of teammates to collect at least one hit each in every game of a seven-game World Series. Hank Bauer and Billy Martin of the 1956 Yankees also accomplished the feat.

• As for Pence, his 2-for-4 night left him with a .444 (12-for-27) average for the 2014 World Series. That's the third-highest average for any player with at least 25 at-bats in a single World Series, trailing only Roberto Alomar (.480 with the Blue Jays in 1993) and Lou Brock (.464 with the Cardinals in 1968).

• Hudson's night came to end after just 1 2/3 innings, marking the shortest World Series Game 7 start since Bob Turley in 1960 -- and the sixth shortest in any World Series game.

• The Giants' bullpen has now come up huge in each of the club's last two World Series Game 7s. Though the Giants ultimately lost Game 7 in 2002, their bullpen tossed six one-hit, shutout innings against the Angels after starter Livan Hernandez lasted just two innings. Over their last two World Series Game 7s, the Giants' bullpen has now combined to throw 13 1/3 scoreless innings, while allowing just four hits.

• Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie didn't fare a whole lot better than Hudson, pitching just 3 1/3 innings before turning the game over to the Kansas City 'pen. It marked the first time in a winner-take-all World Series game that neither starter recorded more than 10 outs.

• Bumgarner's save surpassed the previous record of four innings for the longest save in World Series history. Prior to Wednesday night, the longest save in a winner-take-all World Series game would have been Bob Kuzava's 2 2/3-inning save in 1952, though the save stat did not become official until 1969.

• The Royals and Giants combined to have four different relievers throw at least two shutout innings in Game 7. In addition to Affeldt and Bumgarner, the Royals' Kelvin Herrera tossed 2 2/3 scoreless frames and Wade Davis worked two shutout innings. No other World Series Game 7 had more than two relievers toss two or more scoreless innings.